‘The Originals’ Recap: A Brutal Betrayal Destroys The Original Family

The Mikaelsons have always been dysfunctional, but on the Feb. 25 episode of ‘The Originals,’ past and present betrayals irrevocably changed the vampire dynasty.

The Feb. 25 episode of The Originals is that episode. That one jaw-dropping, game-changing episode that steers the hit CW show in a new direction. The deep, dark secrets uncovered have left the Original family scarred for good. Let’s dig in!

‘The Originals’ Recap: Elijah Betrays Klaus

After being ambushed by a pack of wolves, Rebekah (Claire Holt) woke up in an abandoned sanatorium. The sole Original sister was not quite all right. She was hallucinating up a storm, mostly of dead people and blood. (Sweet dreams!) She tried to escape, but was stabbed by Genevieve (Elyse Levesque), who wanted to reminisce like it was 1919.

Rebekah pretty much spent the entire episode running, but I would be too if I knew the most powerful vampire was going to be coming after me once he learned of my ultimate betrayal.

Back in the day, Rebekah was Queen Bee (or Queen Bey, for a modern equivalent) of the nurses’ ward. She knew Genevieve was a practicing witch and helping out patients with special remedies. They became friends, but I guess their friendship didn’t make it into the 21st century.

At the hands of the modern-day revived Genevieve, Rebekah was flashing back to better and worse times. The good stuff first: Back in the day, Rebekah and Marcel (Charles Michael Davis) were hot and heavy. They had that whole star-crossed lovers thing going for them. And yes, they were making out in a morgue. (So romantic.) Marcel wanted Rebekah to find a witch who could do one more spell so they could be together forever. Rebekah was iffy on faking the friendship with Genevieve, but when you have someone as hot as Marcel trying to make out with you, it’s kind of hard to say no.

Meanwhile, Monique was busy burying Sophie (Daniella Pineda) after gruesomely killing her in the name of witch-ery. However, Elijah (Daniel Gillies) had other plans. He was desperate to find his siblings. Monique told him that to find Klaus and Rebekah, he’d had to follow the path “she” (i.e. Celeste) left behind, which were witchy tattooed names on his body!

Elijah hit up Marcel for help and Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) tagged along. Like Elijah, Marcel wanted both Rebekah and Klaus back. (Yay!) According to Marcel, the tattoos were a riddle. Solve it and the writings disappear. However, the longer they played, the more Klaus and Rebekah suffered. Ruh roh.

‘The Originals’ Recap: Keep The Truth Away From Klaus

For the first time in forever, Klaus wasn’t the prime person the witches were after. Genevieve wasn’t seeking any vengeance on Klaus because he never did anything to her. All she wanted was for him to learn the truth. And that he did…. oh boy, did he ever.

Klaus already knew that Marcel and Rebekah had been sneaking around for centuries, but he didn’t know the lengths they tried to reach to be together — in fact, they once conspired to rid themselves of Klaus forever! In order for Klaus to truly see Rebekah’s betrayal, Genevieve linked his mind to Rebekah’s. (We knew this wouldn’t end well…)

Apparently, Genevieve had a crush on Klaus back in the old days. However, Rebekah was preoccupied with having Genevieve help her do one thing: Find Mikael (Sebastian Roché)! Yeah, you know, Klaus’s father who hated Klaus and tried to kill him for eons upon eons. That guy.

Elsewhere in NOLA, Marcel and Elijah went on a mission to find a guy who had a death ledger of supernatural creatures. They needed to find one mysterious name, Brynn Devereaux, that had magically appeared on Elijah’s body. All of the other names “tattooed” on Elijah were witches who died by their own hand, except for Brynn’s.

Luckily, they didn’t have to do anymore investigating, because Marcel knew all about Brynn. She was a nurse at the same sanatorium as Rebekah and Genevieve… the same nurse that Elijah ran into in 1919!

‘The Originals’ Recap: Elijah’s Big Back-Stab

Klaus wanted to see more proof of Rebekah and Marcel’s treachery, which coincided with Marcel’s trip down memory lane. He forced a flashback of Genevieve enacting the spell to find Mikael for Marcel and Rebekah! However, Rebekah soon had a change of heart — she wanted Genevieve to undo the spell. Genevieve realized she had been used by Rebekah and was majorly pissed, but Rebekah couldn’t let Genevieve spill the beans, so she infected Genevieve and Clara (aka Brynn) with influenza. Genevieve died horribly, but Clara was just a host body for Celeste, so she ended up pulling a Katherine (shout out to TVD!) and body-swapping her way back to life.

Celeste then warned everyone that familial love plagues the Original family, so the bonds were bound to be severed. I mean, the crazy lady spoke nothing but the truth. Klaus was understandably pissed, but upon being released, he still went straight for Rebekah.

Commence the wrath of Klaus, once again.

Klaus wanted to really punish Rebekah. He wasn’t just going to put her in a coffin for centuries, he wanted to stab her with the knife that would immobilize her in pain. They fought, and Rebekah got a few good swings in, but she was obviously no match for the Klaus. Marcel rushed to the scene to help, but was of no use — 200-year-olds, emIright?

Here’s where the shock came in — before Klaus got the chance to stab Rebekah, Elijah came up from behind and stabbed Klaus with the dagger!

How’s that for brotherly love? This changes everything. Everything. I honestly don’t know how Klaus, Rebekah and Elijah can ever truly get over this. Celeste was right: The bond of the brothers has been drastically cut.

What did you think of the episode, HollywoodLifers? How long do you think Klaus will be immobilized? Do you think Klaus and Elijah’s bond will ever be restored? What did you think of Rebekah and Elijah’s betrayals? Sound off in the comments below!